Not a lot to say in this note. Most of it will be towards the end.
The day Bruno leaves is cold and rainy.
He knows it's been coming. A feeling in his bones, a sense hanging over him, an emerald-green tablet stashed away so he won't worry the family. He's the last Madrigal of his generation left by that point, an old old man now. He's eighty-five and he's surprised he's lived this long with how much stress he's had in his life. Then again, he just always had to be the odd one out, didn't he?
He doesn't wake up in his bed that morning. Instead, he finds himself in Casita's courtyard. It's raining and he can't feel a single drop. He wonders what's upset Gabriella so much when she's normally the happiest child he knows.
It clicks when he feels a hand on his shoulder and he looks to see Felix behind him.
Felix wasn't the first to leave, but he was the last before Bruno, four years ago. His face is warm and welcoming and a little bit sad as he stares up at the sky. Bruno knows he's thinking of his poor nieta who has her Abuela Pepa's powers, that ability to control the weather.
"Did they find me yet?" Bruno asks, and Felix nods.
"Sebito went to find you for breakfast and he found your body."
Sebastian. His poor gran sobrino, who has the same powers as Bruno himself. Even at the age of twenty, Sebastian had almost constantly gone to Bruno for consultations on the visions that followed him like bad luck. Now all the visions for the family and the Encanto will be up to Sebastian, and he won't have Bruno to lean on anymore.
He hears a door open upstairs and then an umbrella. Down the stairs comes Alma, his youngest grandchild who is now nineteen. Her eyes glow with a slight golden light as she looks towards where Bruno and Felix are.
"Hola, Abuelo," she whispers, and Bruno wants to hug her one last time as she makes her way to the kitchen.
Other than Sebastian, it was Alma who understood him best. Having a power that people found distressing—the three of them had been closer than most of the other Madrigals. Alma in particular had found her solace in talking with her deceased family and now Bruno was among their number.
"BRUNO!"
He whips his head around to see Pepa running towards him, her vigor restored in the beyond as she tackled him to the ground. He could hear Julie and Sara laughing nearby and grumbled good-naturedly as they joined the hug. Agustin and Mama weren't far behind, and just behind them was Papa. His father, who he didn't even remember and had died young, yet now he looked as old as Mama did. Maybe it was a trick of the afterlife.
"You just had to keep us waiting, didn't you?" Sara jokes, and Bruno feels like he's going to start crying. It's been fifty years since he last heard her voice, since they said goodbye with their daughter in his arms, and he feels so so blessed to be able to see her now.
"Don't cry, Brunito," Julie sighs with a smile, and Bruno shakes his head.
He's not going to cry. The family's going to cry enough for him as it is.
He spends a few minutes talking to his family, those who have proceeded him to this plane unseen by all but his youngest granddaughter, and then Sara takes his hand with a deep breath.
"Do you want to see Mirabel?"
His throat tightens, but he nods and follows Sara up the stairs to Mirabel's room.
Their child is in her bed, curled up with Joseph and Sara Beatriz and Oscar. Alma had apparently joined them at some point, as he sees the gold in her eyes as she looks up at him. Her movement alerts Mirabel, who glances at her then follows her gaze.
"Papa's there, isn't he?" she whispers.
"He is. And Abuela Sara, too."
Mirabel doesn't respond. She buries her face in Joseph's shoulder and his yerno holds her close. Bruno tears himself away; he can't do this. Not yet.
Sara takes him on a tour of the house as they see it—where walls are more of a suggestion and he can go to see anyone he wants. Sebastian is in his room, Isabela and Maya on either side of him and stopping him from predicting the deaths of every other family member they have. He's too big for them to pick up but he's small enough that they can hold him back. Eventually he stops and starts crying instead as Isa and Maya hold him close and soothe him.
One by one, he visits the family, and once all that is done he goes and sits with those who have passed on with him.
He never thought dying would be like this.
But it comforts him to know he can still watch over everyone.
She's just past one hundred and one when she goes.
It isn't unexpected. Sebastian had a vision of it, which brings her a strange sense of comfort. She is the last of the second generation of gifted Madrigals, and the family is in good hands. Her youngest grandson, Victor, is the new head of the family. He has been for the past fifteen years as Mirabel stepped down from her responsibilities with Dolores's passing. Her hermana had gone quietly, following Mariano as she always had, and Mirabel had known that it was to begin. One by one her cousins had left, one by one their partners went, too, and Mirabel knows that she will be going soon. Even Antonio had left before her, just a year earlier.
She is the last.
And she is ready.
She finds herself in Casita's courtyard and she wants to start crying.
Everyone is there. She knew they would be, Alma assured her that much, but to actually see them, to be able to touch them and hug them is more than she was ready to deal with as she starts crying. Her family is there, people she knew she wouldn't see until now, and it feels good and it hurts at the same time as they comfort her.
Then she hears a voice among them, one she's never heard.
"I'm so glad to finally meet you, mi oruguita."
The woman speaking is pretty with long and wild light brown curls, curls that Mirabel had seen once when she was fifteen and the house had fallen down around her. It is a face that she's only seen in pictures, a warmth she's only heard people describe, and she knows in an instant that this is her mother. Her mother who died to give her life, her mother who chose a short but happy life and Mirabel over a long one.
"Mama," she chokes out, and then for the first time ever, she hugs her mother.
Then she feels someone else join them. It's her father.
"You took long enough. How do you even manage to live that long?" he jokes awkwardly and her mother smacks him on the shoulder in a way that tells Mirabel this isn't the first time he's made a joke like this.
"One hundred and one," Camilo chuckles nearby. "She took her time."
Joseph comes to give her a kiss on the cheek.
She is given a ghostly tour of Casita, which is truly massive with all the additions the house has added over the years for the new family members who needed rooms of their own to go with their gifts. Some of the doors are dark; many belonged to Madrigals who were now gone from the world, but some belonged to those whose hearts called them beyond the mountain pass that had opened up when Mirabel was a teenager. They are beyond the Encanto now but they always return to visit.
It's as she's turning a corner with Papa and Mama that she bumps into Alma.
Her youngest stares at her with those golden eyes, looking ready to cry.
"Hola, Mama," she whispers, her voice strained with tears.
"Hola, Almita." Mirabel smiles and Alma takes a deep breath.
"I'm glad you made it over safe."
"Me, too. And I'll wait for you."
"Don't say that." Alma shakes her head. "I don't think you get a choice. But me and Sara and Oscar—we'll be ready when our time comes."
She walks off and goes to talk to Victor, who is making the funeral preparations.
"Will they be okay?" she asks, looking to Mama.
"They'll be fine. The magic picks someone with a good head on their shoulders to lead, and Victor certainly has that."
"I know, I just…"
"You'll get used to it," Mamí promises, and Mirabel nods.
"We need to go check on everyone," Papí adds.
Mirabel sighs and nods again, and then she turns again.
Somebody has to look over the family.
Or, she supposes, eighteen somebodies.
They are always there in the house, all of them, watching over the family and ensuring that the smallest members are safe within Casita's walls. And Mirabel is able to be with her family, both living and dead, and they are all proud of every single Madrigal. When a family picture is taken, they are there behind the living, and they join in that singular cry that has remained a constant throughout the years.
La Familia Madrigal!
This note is gonna be really long, so just click off if you're not interested.
First of all, I want to extend a thank-you to every single person who has read this story—whether you found it on day one or you're discovering this two years after its completion. This story has shot above and beyond anywhere I expected it to go in every aspect. I checked the statistics across both AO3 and Fanfiction and it's definitely one of my more popular ones. You guys have been absolutely awesome with the suggestions, too, and I'm so grateful to have found an audience who enjoyed my weird niche interest.
And speaking of AO3, I just need to give you all an extra-special thanks. This story blew up in ways I never expected. It is my most popular story I've published on the Archive; it has more subscribers, hits, comments, and kudos than any other I've put up. It does my little heart good to know there was so much you all wanted to see and you let me know in a big way.
Now that that's done, I have some news and updates for all of you.
You may have noticed that this is now a series if you're over on the Archive, and that's because it is. I will be publishing more stuff in this general AU, but the bulk of it is over and done with this chapter going up.
And for my other news, well, it's for my fellow writers. I am giving you all a green-light that I don't often give with my fanfics, and that is a green-light to use my characters and AU. That's right, I'm turning the reins over to you guys! I'll be popping in from time to time to write what I want, but this is fully in you guys' hands now. Just… please be nice to my characters unless you're writing angst. And please be nice to Abuela and Pepa in particular.
I guess that's it, then.
*smiles up at the audience*
Thank you all for coming to read the end of this huge, huge saga. Again. There's refreshments by the door, I made the cupcakes myself. Hope you don't mind my terrible frosting job. Feel free to stick around and read some of my other stuff in the meantime.
Well, I guess there's nothing left to say but quote Stephen Colbert and Bill Cipher.
"We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when. But I know we'll meet again some sunny day."
So long and thanks for all the fish!
